1 14 Good Men Strangers and Vol. I. another Place, which will abundantly recompence and make amends to us for all the Trotibles and Sufferings ofthis Life And yet it is ftrange to fee how faft moft Men cling to Life, and that even in Old Age ; how they catch at every Twig that may but hold them up a little while ; and how fondly they hanker after a miferable Life, when there is nothing more of Pleafure to be enjoy'd, nothing more of Satisfa&ion to he expe&ed and hoped for in it. When they are juft putting into the Port, and, one would think, fhould rejoyce at their very Hearts that they fee Land ; yet how glad would they be then of any crofs Wind, that would carry them back into the Sea again, as if they loved to be tofs'd, and were fond of Storms and Tempefts. Nay, the very belt of us, even after we have made that Acknowledgment of David, I am a Stranger and a Sojourner with thee, as all my Fathers were, are apt, with him, to be ftill importuning God for a little longer Life ; 0 filare me a little, that I may recover Strength, before I go hence, and be no more. And when God hath granted us this Requeft, then we would be feared yet a little longer. But let us remember, that God did not defign us to continue always in this World ; and that he hath on purpofe made it fo uneafy to us, to make us willing to leave it ; and that fo long as we linger here below, we aredetained from our Happinefs ; While we are prefent in the Body, we are abfent from the Lord. This Confideration made St. Paul fo defirous to be dfolved, becaufe he knew, that when this Earthly Houfe ofthis Tabernacle was diffalved, he fhould have a much better Habitation, a BuildingofGod, an Houfe not made with Hands, eter- nal in the Heavens. This was that which made him fo full of Joy and Triumph, at the Thoughts of his leaving the World : 2 Tim. 4. 6. I am now ready (fays he) to be offered up, and the time of my departure is at hand ; I have fought a good Fight, 1 have finifhed my Courfe, I have kept the Faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown ofRighteozfnefs, whichGod the righteous judge _hall give me in that day. Nay, the Confideration of this (tho' but obfcurely apprehended by them) did raife the Spirits of the wifer and better Heathen, and fill them with great Joy and Comfort at the Thoughts of their Diffolution. With what Conftancy and Evennefs of Mind did Socrates receive the Sentence of Death ? And with what excellent Difcourfe did he entertain his Friends juft before he drank off the fatal Cup, and after he had taken it down, whilft Death was gradually feizing upon him ? One can hardly, without a very fenfible Tranfport, read Cato's Difcourfe concerning his Death, as it is reprefented by Tully in his Book ofOld Age. I am (fays he) tranfportedwith a Defare offeeing ny Forefathers, thofe excellent Perfoes of whom I have heard, and read, and written; and now I am going to them, I would not willingly be drawn back into this World again. Quod fi quis Deus mihi largiatur, ut ex hac retate repuerafcatn, & in cunis vagiam, valde recufem. Ifforce God would offer me, at this Age, to be a Child again, and to cry in the Cradle, Iwould earneflly refute it, and upon no Terms accept it. And now that my Race is aline run, andmy Courfe jufl jhiifhed, how loth fhould I he to be brought back, and made to begin again ? For what Advantage is there in Life? Nay rather, what Labour and Trouble is there not in it ? But let the Benefit ofit be what it will, there is certainlyfume Meafure ofLife as well as of other Things, and Men ought to know when they have enough of it. O præclarum diem, cum in illud animorum confiliutn cxtumque proficifcar, & cum ex hac tur- ba & colluvione difcedam ; 0 bleffed andglorious Day, when I _.hall go to that great Council and Affembly of Spirits, and have got out ofthis Crowd and Rabble! And if a Heathen, who had but force obfcure Glimmerings of another Life, and ofthe Bleffed State ofdeparted Souls, could fpeak thus chearfully of Death ; how much more may We, who have a clear and undoubted Revelation ofthefe Things, and to whom Life and Immortality are brought to light by theGofpel. V. We fhould alway prefer our Duty, and the keeping of a good Confcience, before all the World ; becaufe it is, in truth, infinitely more valuable, if fo be our Souls be immortal, and do furvive in another World, and we mull there give a ftriét
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